Operational Planning for Public Holidays in Grocery Retailing – Managing the Grocery Retail Rush

Abstract

Public holiday weeks cause specific challenges in grocery retailing as sales increase while working days for logistics processes are reduced. This paper analyzes the operational planning challenges and solutions for demand planning and disposition as well as for warehouse and transportation management of grocery retailers in public holiday seasons. A total of 22 top managers representing 20 sales lines of 17 of the top 30 grocery retailers in Germany participated in the study. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with logistics managers were conducted and analyzed. Uncertainties and insufficient resources can be identified as the two main challenges of public holiday seasons in grocery retailing. Retailers implement numerous measures that can be summarized in three categories, i.e., the adjustment of workload profiles, the adaptation of resources and the modification of processes. Literature has so far considered public holidays only to a limited extent, e.g., as a parameter in forecasting models or for the application of marketing instruments. This study is the first to develop a framework and provide insights into operational planning in grocery retailing.